Pretty Boys
by Sagi-chan
Summary: [AU-OOC-Yaoi] 1x2 The jock, the punk, the preppy, the rich boy and the brain. How will they survive High School, especially when they're all... special? CHAPTER 6
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: _All characters in the Gundam Wing world do not belong to me. In fact, I'm pretty sure if they **did belong to me, there would be no Gundam World period.**_

**AN**_This _is my half dead plot-bunny. I do not know what possessed me to write it, but here it is. Don't worry if you're terribly confused, that's only natural. Also, this is an **AU** (alternate universe) fan fiction. With that comes slight **OOC** (out-of-character) and in this case... **yaoi**. Don't like - go away.__

**Summary**: _The jock, the punk, the preppy, the rich boy and the brain. How will they survive high school, especially when they're all... special?_

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**Chapter 1**

_"Hey Yuy, great game last night! We'll win for sure with you on the team!"_

Heero Yuy, the resident jock of Gundam High grunted at the nameless well wisher and continued on his way down the crowded hallway. The half Japanese student didn't care for all the recognition and awards he got simply for playing sports. And he only played sports because he had the skill, the determination and the love for the games that he excelled in. Football, wrestling, track, basketball, baseball... you name it, he's played it. And most likely... beat the shit out of the competition.

Heero managed to beat a path to his locker and opened it up. His was probably one of the cleanest lockers in the whole school - which was saying a lot. There were some serious neat freaks at Gundam High.

The door of the locker next to his opened suddenly, and Heero looked over with his first smile of the day. It still mystified him how the contense of that particular locker didn't avalanche every time it was opened. Then again, it was Duo Maxwell, and that boy had more secrets than Heero himself. "Ohayoo, Duo-kun." He said softly, least he was over heard by somebody who disapproved the friendship he and Duo Maxwell shared.

"Ohayoo, Hee-chan." Duo chirped, sending a bright smile his way. The feeling of absolute contentment wormed its way into Heero at that smile, like it always did when Duo smiled at him. Duo, the boy he had been dating in secret even since sixth grade.

Duo Maxwell was the resident punk of Gundam High, although the term punk didn't really suit him well. It was true that he did always wear black, and he did break an awful lot of rules, and tormenting his peers was always on his list of things to do... but he was too damn cheerful to be a real punk. Not to mention he didn't really fit the general punk description. With hair that reached past his rear and was always tied back in a braid, big purple eyes, a wide smile and vocal cords that were always on the move. He was also an orphan. The American boy generally got on peoples nerves and although he was one of the better known, he was not one of the most favored people in the school.

But Duo and Heero had been best friends since second grade, boyfriends since sixth (_though_ _most people didn't know either of the two facts) and silly things like reputations didn't really matter to them. It was just that the two had different interests and ended up making different sets of friends. Cliques were set and that was that in the eyes of the rest of the school._

"Field two, today." Duo said softly, beginning to unload his books from his black backpack into the black hole he used for a locker. Field two, meaning the old PE field at the back of the school. It was one of the most abandoned and over grown fields of the school.

At that moment, one of Duo's punk friends swaggered up, looking as though he had just rolled out of bed - complete with a hangover - and leaned over Duo's shoulder. "That jock giving you trouble again?" The boy growled, glaring at Heero from underneath his dirty blond bangs.

Duo grinned easily and slammed his locker shut. "Nah. Come on Solo, or we'll miss the grand finale of our bathroom stunt."

The long haired boy sent one last wink at Heero before leading his Gothic friend away.

Heero returned the wink, turning back to his locker before turning to his normal emotionless self. It looked like life was going to be interesting this morning. He could almost already hear the screams that were sure to come from the girl's bathroom.

===

Quatre Rebarba Winner, the towns richest kid, hurriedly made his way towards his locker only pausing to nod briefly towards people who called out morning greetings. His blond hair was slightly messy this morning, the only visible sign of his hurried nature. In contrast, his aqua colored eyes twinkled as they normally did, a bright smile lighting up his face with each person who acknowledged him. He stopped to properly greet one of his closer friends, Trowa Barton, and the two walked down the hallway together.

"Ohayoo," Quatre smiled, falling into the pattern of greeting his long time friend in Japanese. "What's the call for today?"

Trowa Barton, who was taller than nearly everybody in the school grinned, his visible green eye sparkling, the other being hidden behind the hair that constantly fell into his face. "Field two, today." He said softly. Trowa was what you could consider the prep of the school. He was in the "in" crowd, always had the latest gossip, and had what one could call "minions" willing to do his beck and call. Trowa was one of, if not *the* most popular boys in school.

"Duo's field?" Quatre asked in surprise, craning his neck to see Trowa's face.

The tall boy nodded and the two split ways to find their separate lockers. "I hope nothing happened to him," Quatre fretted as he opened his locker and began neatly arranging his books and binders on the shelves there. Duo had been one of Quatre's closest friends ever since second grade, when Duo had been brought in - kicking and screaming.

They only met on field two when there was something serious to discuss. And Quatre would have to wait until second period before he could see Duo and make sure that nothing was wrong. The small blond finished gathering what he would need for first period and hurried on his way - just as the warning bell rang.

===

Chang Wufei was sitting in his usual place in the main office, filing the pile the secretaries had given him into the "Student Profile" files. The Chinese boy gave his short pony tail another hard yank as he failed to locate a file. Really, that particular file was so full of papers he shouldn't have such a problem finding it. Him especially, being the smartest kid in school.

_"Where is it...?" _He muttered to himself, having already gone through the files about three times now.

"If you're trying to find my file again, don't bother. Kushrenada already has it." A familiar happy go lucky voice said from behind him.

Wufei started, turning around so quickly that his neck popped. Slanted black eyes glared at the American in front of him, before those same eyes turned to look disapprovingly at the small gaggle of similarly black clad students behind Duo. "What did you do this time, Maxwell?"

Duo grinned and flipped his braid over his shoulder carelessly. "Blew up a toilet in the girls' bathroom on the third floor."

Wufei's lips twitched, though he tried hard to prevent it. "Why do you keep doing things like this? It makes my job as office assistant much more difficult than it already is."

One of the Goths behind Duo growled and took a step forwards. "What's it to you, smart boy? Afraid we'll tarnish your perfect record?"

Wufei snorted and handed the paper to Duo. "You can bring that with you and ask Mr. Kushrenada to put it in your file."

Duo grinned and sent him a peace sign, wiggling his two fingers to make sure that his message got across. Wufei snorted in disgust, but nodded discretely at the message. Field two for lunch that day, message received.

"Maxwell, you can come in now." A stern male voice called from the principal's office.

The long haired boy's grin slipped for a moment before he hitched it back up and swaggered into the next room. Wufei sighed and went back to his filing.

===

Five boys lounged on the otherwise empty field two behind Gundam High during lunch. A soft blanket was spread out on the ground and they ate their lunches at their own leisure. The five chose to eat lunch without their normal gangs of friends just to keep up with each other. And it was better to keep their separate cliques separate, if only for the fact that cliques were cliques and if you weren't in a particular clique... you were an outsider and didn't belong. Duo's group especially couldn't stand Trowa's friends and Wufei's companions couldn't stand Heero's. Quatre's group thought themselves to be above all others and couldn't stand anybody else as a rule.

So during lunch, the five boys got together, just like they had during Jr. High. Duo and Heero always sat next to each other and shared their lunches. Quatre, Trowa and Wufei arranged themselves around the other two, laughing at their antics.

"So, why field two today, Duo?" Quatre asked, sticking his straw into his juice box and drinking the whole thing down in one go. "It must have been something important. You usually choose field four."

Field four was the Soccer field.

Duo sighed and gave his four best friends a small smile before deliberate taking a huge bite of his orphanage provided sandwich to delay. Heero poked him lightly in the ribs, causing the long haired boy to choke slightly on his mouthful.

"It better not have anything to do with our summer plans." Wufei growled, hating the idea of one of his best friends missing their trip to China. They had been planning it for nearly three years and Wufei had had to spend a year before that pleading with, first his parents to allow them to go, and then his relatives to allow him and his friends to stay in their homes in China. They had finally gotten the go ahead and planned it for the next summer - all they needed was their passports and enough money to get over there and back.

Duo bowed his head, swallowing. "It might." He said softly. "There's an open house at the church next weekend, you know - in hopes of getting one of us adopted. Sister Helen and Father Maxwell told me they might have found somebody who was willing to adopt me..."

"But you're almost eighteen!" Quatre cried, accidentally squashing his empty juice box in his shock. "What would be the point?"

Duo shrugged before adding the rest of his problem to the pile. "And they told me if I don't get my act together they're going to pull me from _The Shack_, give me a curfew and limit my privileges back to when I was thirteen."

"You have been acting out more lately." Heero said gruffly, crushing his hamburger wrapper in one hand before opening his orange Gatorade, chugging half of it down. "It's because of Solo, isn't it?"

Duo shrugged and took another bite of his sandwich.

"Well, lets deal with the adoption problem first," Quatre sighed, running one hand through his hair. "We all know that Sister Helen and Father Maxwell love you to pieces and spoil you rotten... and it's only four months till your eighteenth birthday. So that really isn't much of a problem rather than an annoyance."

"However," Wufei cut in. "If they pull you from _The Shack_, you won't be able to earn money for China..."

"And after the bathroom stunt this morning..." Trowa added. "You'll be lucky if they let you even have your own room any more."

Duo pouted at his friends. "The bathroom stunt wasn't really me. Solo set it all up, I just watched as the girls ran screaming down the hall. And besides, revenge had to be placed upon them."

The four other boys sighed, shaking their heads in ill-concealed humor. Life was always a riot when Duo was around. They settled back into their normal lunch routines, swapping food, teasing each other and generally having fun.

"There's a party at _The Shack_ tonight." Heero commented, just as the bell to end lunch rang. "Duo and I both work from six to ten. Are we going to hang out at the cliffs afterwards?"

Wufei, Trowa and Quatre nodded, smiling. "Wouldn't miss it for anything." They promised.

===

_The Shack_ was the most popular restaurant in the Gundam High 'turf'. It wasn't very large, but it sold every type of fast food available, including deserts. It sat in a small alcove near the beach and was the perfect location for the weekly parties the students of Gundam High always threw.

Duo and Heero were the star employees at _The Shack. The two alone could cook, take orders, entertain and clean up faster and more effectively that anybody body else working there. They were often the only two working there during the day and usually it was only on weekends were others brought into to help manage the masses of people who flocked there. Not only that, but despite the fact that they were always working, the two were usually at the heart of the party each and every Friday night. They led and participated in dance contests, competitions on the beach and other such things._

"Hee-chan! Crank up the music, I _love this song!" Duo shouted over the already pounding music, while expertly flipping hamburgers on the grill. Around him the five extra Friday workers rushed about getting orders together and cooking food._

Heero, still in the process of taking orders, raised the volume a little louder before cranking up the base. He accepted the payment from the nameless student and called back the order to one of the five people cooking food. At that exact moment, Duo bounced up to his side and pulled him onto the counter, dancing.

"Take over for a while," the long haired boy called to the five still in _The Shack_ before leading Heero down to the beach. From out of his ever constant backpack, Duo pulled out a megaphone and called attention to the masses. "The dance contest will start in approximately two minutes!" He shouted into the megaphone. "Get a partner and wait for the signal! The prize is a super sundae to share!"

Immediately people began searching for partners and Duo turned a cheeky smile to his best friend. "Dance with me, Hee-chan?" He asked, purple eyes twinkling.

Heero gave a short nod before hurrying off to clear a space for the contest. People who weren't going to be competing in the contest circled around Heero, eyes bright. Duo soon joined his friend, now carrying the boom-box and the megaphone.

"Alright," he said, the beach was now relatively quiet. "Dancers line up as usual over there. And remember, it's up to the peanut gallery to decide the winners." He winked, putting down the boom-box. "Each pair has three minutes. Heero and I are going to kick this off."

He tossed away the megaphone and prodded the play button. Music once again began pounding and the two best friends began dancing. As a general rule, the two in charge always danced together for the first dance of the dance contest. And it was a good thing that they wouldn't win as another rule, or else the competition would have been over at that moment. To be fair, there were some others who were amazing dancers... but because of Heero's reputation as untouchable, and Duo's bad-boy rep, their dancing was enhanced to something above that of a normal person. Eventually, two sophomores were selected as the winners.

Heero and Duo then began the series of other contests held each week and the party kept on until eleven, which was the agreed time of the beach closing. Most kids, however, didn't stop partying, they just went to somebody's house.

"Great job you guys!" One of the workers called to them. The girl, Marimaiah was already on her way to taking over for either Heero or Duo as soon as they graduated high school. It was only them keeping her from moderating the parties each week. But she was put in charge while they worked the crowd, so she was paid more than the other workers.

"Arigato!" Duo beamed, bowing lowly to her. "Let's hope these parties continue to be a great when you've taken over."

The girl flushed in pride and continued cleaning up and shutting down _The Shack_.

"_DUO_!" A voice called from the front counter. "_HEERO! Are you two still back there?"_

Heero vaulted the counter and nearly scared poor Quatre to death. "Just finishing up," he said with a barely traceable smile. "Head up without us, okay? We'll be there in about five minutes."

Quatre nodded and returned to Wufei and Trowa, the two acknowledged Heero's presence with waves before walking off in the general direction of the cliffs.

Three minutes later, Duo locked the front door and began walking down to the beach with Heero. "First to the top wins," he challenged; an unhealthy gleam in his eyes as he glanced up at the top of the cliffs, some fifty feet above them.

The half Japanese boys acknowledged the challenge by taking off his shirt and tucking it safety away in the belt of his pants. Then, with barely a look of concentration - two enormous and beautiful white wings burst out of his back and the boy took to the sky. Duo hurried to lift himself as well, though he didn't have wings to do it with. He had to use his mind to lift himself. Telekinetic abilities were what helped him 'fly'.

The two raced up into the night sky before landing on the top of the cliffs at the exact same time. Duo checked his watch.

"We're getting faster." He commented softly, turning to watch as Heero concentrated to have his wings disappear. Then began the argument as to who won the race up.

"You two," Quatre laughed from behind them, "...will never change."

The two turned around and smiled their first real smiles since lunch earlier that day.

"Ah, but why would we want to change?" Duo asked. "Being ourselves is much more fun." As if to prove his point, he sat down on the air and grinned widely.

"Why be normal?"

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**AN** _Confused yet? Yes? Good. You're supposed to be. In my world, you being confused means you reading with questions and coming back to see the answer. I'm just hoping you're reading this. __But besides that, I need help with the plot. As of now... I've got keeping Duo's behavior under control, the possible adoption n the trip to China. Anybody got any ideas? **pleading**_

_And to **Kuroi who is probably reading this. My spelling sucks, I really don't care.**_

**_Review ne?_**

**.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** _is in the first chapter. Don't bother me about it._

**AN** _Alright, sorry about the two week wait (at least, I think that was two weeks) but I was attacked by a few plot-bunnies. Yes, it was a very painful experience, thanks for caring. And thank you so much for your enthusiasm! I'm still not sure exactly where the plot is in this, but it will probably end up being Duo-centric. And it probably will center on the adoption and the China trip. Also, please excuse my poor spelling. I know it's bad and I'm lectured on it almost every day. Just send me correct spellings (preferably of names) and I'll fix what ever needs it._

_I'll let you read now._

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**Chapter 2**

Duo snuck into the Maxwell Church well after his curfew. He went through the backdoor, carefully skirting around any object that could give away his position if he knocked into it. It also helped that he had the kitchen layout memorized and he could move smaller objects out of his way with just his mind. The light switched on, and Duo was revealed in the sudden bright of the church kitchen. He had to fight the impulse to drop to the floor and hide.

"If you got back on time... you wouldn't have to sneak in, you know." Sister Helen scolded him, still dressed in her nun's habit. "Duo, why do we have to go through this every week? Your curfew is midnight, the Friday night party's end at eleven, and I know you like to spend time with your friends afterwards, and I respect that. But could you at least get in on time?"

Duo winced, guilt washing over him like a thunderstorm. "Gomen nansai, Helen nee-sama." He said quietly.

"And don't cut into Japanese when we're talking." Sister Helen sighed, walking over to the small table and pulling out two chairs, gesturing for Duo to sit down.

The long haired boy opened his mouth, only to be cut off once again.

"Nor can you speak in Chinese, German, Arabic or Sign-language." The nun added briskly, pointing at the still empty chair as if to say: _"sit, or else."_ Blue eyes flashed.

The teen meekly sat down. "I'm really sorry, Sister Helen," Duo said sincerely, "but there was this killer meteor shower tonight and we lost track of time." He offered his most charming smile. Of course, his story was only a half truth. He and Heero had stayed behind for a bit after the others had left in order to meet their own curfews. But the meteor shower had been amazing to watch and being able for Duo and Heero to spend time alone together was something that was hard to find.

"Oh Duo," Sister Helen laughed, finally cracking. "I don't know what to do with you! Get to bed before any of the others wake up." She swatted at him lightly as he passed her.

With one final smile, Duo hurried out of the kitchen before Sister Helen could remember about the incident at school earlier that day that she had, no doubt, gotten a phone call for. The incident being the most recent _Bathroom Incident_. With what could be considered skill, but was probably just dumb luck - he made it up to his room without hassle and immediately flopped on his bed, ready to sleep the rest of the weekend away.

===

Heero's sleep was disturbed because of his phone headset going off right in his ear. No matter how often it happened, he still jumped in surprise and had to restrain himself from throwing the phone across his room to shatter like his previous headset. He also had a problem falling asleep without the head-set on, so every night, no matter how tired he was, he put on the phone head-set. Even if it meant being awoken by its shrill scream each and every morning.

_"Moshi, moshi?" _He yawned. He had nothing against answering the phone in his native tongue. There were only four people who called him on his private line, and each of them spoke Japanese either fluently, or well enough to engage in a fairly complex conversation.

"Ohayoo, Heero-san!" Quatre's bright voice said from the other end, sounding as though he had been awake for hours, which wasn't unlikely.

"Ugh," Heero muttered, rolling onto his back and burying his head under his pillow. "Nan-ji desu ka?"

"It's ten o'clock." His blond friend answered in a chirpy voice, still sounding way too cheerful for Heero's tastes. "We're going to head into the city for a bit of arcading this afternoon and maybe a movie later tonight. Do you want to come?"

"Who all is going?" Heero asked, finally reverting back into English.

"Just the five of us. So, are you going to come with us or not?" Quatre pressed, almost impatiently - which was nearly unheard of.

"Doko?" Heero asked finally, removing his head from under the pillow and abandoning all thoughts of going back to sleep.

"North Street." His friend told him. "Would you mind picking up Duo and Wufei? We'll meet for lunch at _The Noodle_, at twelve thirty, my treat."

Heero agreed and the two boys hung up. Half an hour later Heero had showered, dressed and was sitting down with his stepfather for a late breakfast.

"Boy." Odin Lowe acknowledged him before turning back to his newspaper and otherwise ignoring him.

The dark haired teen didn't even bother to say anything and polished off his cereal before getting up. "I'll be out all day." He said gruffly to the man before turning on his heal and making his way to the door. He slipped on his sneakers and headed for his car - just back from the repair shop.

He stopped at Wufei's house first and ended up spending the twenty minutes he was there in conversation with Wufei's mother while his friend finished his morning martial arts training with his father. Then, it was off to the Maxwell Church and Orphanage for Duo. It took nearly an hour and no less than five small children to wake the boy up and get him ready to go.

"Jeez," Duo complained, tying off the end of his trademark braid in the back of Heero's jeep. "Could you be any more impatient?" He finished with his hair and leaned forward just far enough to rest his chin on Wufei's shoulder, just to irritate him.

As was expected, Wufei shoved him off with a scowl and said something derogatory in his own native tongue - Chinese.

"Ah, Wu... that wasn't very nice!" Duo teased. "And if you're going to insult me... do it in a language I *don't* know."

The Chinese boy glowered and opened his mouth to retort, but at that moment, they pulled into _The Noodle's_ parking lot and he found his lap occupied by a familiar brown cat with green eyes.

"Trowa," Duo grinned from the backseat, launching himself out of the car before leaning over the passenger door and scooping up his friend, scratching behind his furry ears.

Next moment, Trowa Barton appeared in Duo's arms and was unceremoniously dropped on the pavement because of the sudden addition of weight.

"Warn a guy before you transform like that next time!" Duo pouted, lowering a hand to help his friend back to his feet.

Trowa laughed and accepted the hand. "Come on," he said with a warm smile. "Quatre's already got us a table."

_The Noodle_ was a small shop that not many Gundam High students knew about. It was relatively quiet and, as the name suggested, served mostly pasta. It was arranged almost like an inside-outside cafe, old fashioned street-lights standing next to tables, small white fences separating the diners and guests. The tables and chairs were made of either sculpted metal or woven wicker branches, which ended up giving the shop a very quaint look.

The boys all trooped inside to sit at their regular table, greeting Quatre as they sat down. The blond boy grinned at them all and handed out menus. The waitress that always served them approached the five teens, already carrying their usual drinks.

===

_"I can't believe you two cleared the final level of **Dance Dance Revolution** ...on the first try!"_ Wufei muttered, glaring at Heero and Duo. Said boys were currently adding their names to the very short list of high scorers.

Duo finished his own name and jumped down with a grin. "You're just mad because I wouldn't dance with you." He laughed, taking no offence from Wufei's words what-so-ever. They'd been best friends since the second grade, why get mad over something so stupid?

Quatre grinned at them before turning to Trowa. "Why don't you ever play the games, Tro?" He asked. "Don't want to ruin your image or something?"

"Dammit! Stop reading my mind!" Trowa laughed, giving his friend a light smack on the shoulder.

"Sorry," Quatre said without loosing a beat. "The quiet ones always have the most interesting thoughts."

The group of five burst out laughing, knowing that Quatre would never tap into their thoughts unless he was given permission first. It was one of their unsaid rules. They would never use their gifts to hurt each other. The fact that they had such gifts was a secret to them and they did their best to keep them as such. This was another reason why they kept apart during the most of school hours. If one of them was found out, the others weren't likely be affected.

Once, during the sixth grade Trowa accidentally shifted into a form similar to Heero's to attempt to mimic the stern expression his friend constantly wore. He succeeded in offending Heero (and Duo, for they had just started dating at that time) and being seen by somebody else at the same time. They had later vowed never to do that again because they didn't want to hurt each other.

"What time is it?" Duo suddenly shouted over the noise of the arcade, looking nervous. "I told Sister Helen that I'd be back before four because it's my turn to cook dinner."

Trowa checked his watch and blanched. "Three-fifty eight." He informed his long haired punk of a friend. "I'm sorry to say that your ass will soon be fried."

All the color in Duo's face seemed to drain away. "Oh man, they're going to kill me..." A glint crept into his eyes. "...unless Wufei would be willing to do me a favor..."

Pleading violet eyes shifted to his oriental friend._ "Fei..?"_

Wufei sighed and nodded - not being able to take the perfected puppy eyed expression. "Let's do this in the bathroom, nobody will see us there."

He almost didn't get his words out before Duo grabbed his hand and began dragging him towards said bathroom. The other three followed, Wufei didn't use his gift very often so they didn't get to see it much. It was a rare treat and the fact that Duo could talk him into it spoke a lot about their friendship.

Once the boys were sure that they were alone, Wufei placed one hand on his friends shoulder and asked if he was ready. Duo skipped over to Heero and placed a farewell kiss upon his lips, before returning to Wufei's side. After the confirming nod, both Wufei and Duo disappeared.

Three minutes later, Wufei popped back into the bathroom, looking very disoriented. Duo wasn't with him.

"I don't understand why you don't like being able to teleport," Quatre sighed.

"Because doing it is _hard_ and arriving in a completely different location is _confusing_." Wufei muttered, swaying slightly in fatigue.

"You wouldn't feel so bad after teleporting if you did it more." Heero said gruffly. "It's like when I was learning how to fly, start slow and don't push yourself too much until you're stronger."

Wufei gave him a dirty look before promptly collapsing. Trowa caught him and without saying anything the three other's decided to take their friend home and call it a day.

===

There was a group of five girls at Gundam High that Duo had kindly dubbed: "The Stalkers". He had named them as such because the group of girls did exactly that. They stalked. Ironically, there was one stalker for each of the five boys. But, unlike the boys, the stalker girls did not like each other. They were just as different as each boy - and thought exactly like the cliques they dwelled in.

Stalking, was in fact, the only thing that they had in common. It was actually rather funny. The girls had altered their entire personalities to somewhat match the clique each boy was in. Be it prep, jock, punk or what not.

It wasn't often that a rich girl went jock, or a smart girl turned punk.

===

Heero sat in the very back of his first period Literature class, taking notes on his lap-top computer. Heero had discovered in his freshman year at Gundam High that certain people were given extra privileges, and used that to his advantage.

Thus, his being able to have a computer in class.

_"HEERO!" _A high-pitched whisper said from the seat in front of him. "What did you think of the book we were supposed to read over the weekend?"

The half Japanese student looked up, cobalt blue eyes narrowed in annoyance at the cheerleader who was grinning at him.

_"Hn."_ He answered before turning back to his notes.

Even after the grunt of rejection, the cheerleader didn't take the hint. She kept gushing mindless words at him, while Heero continued to ignore her. This went on until the bell rang. But even that didn't deter her.

"Do you want to do something tonight, Heero?"

"I have practice."

"_After_ that, silly!"

"I have work."

"..." The girl fell silent, waiting for the rest of Heero's schedule to be revealed to her.

"I'm meeting some people for a study session, and then I have my language classes at nine. I won't be home until eleven."

"Do you have _any_ free time?" She asked shrilly, now following him down the hallway.

Heero stopped walking and turned to level a sharp look at the cheerleader. "No, Relena. I don't have very much free time during the school year."

Relena Dorlian sighed but didn't question him further. Even she was smart enough to know when to back off. Heero nodded curtly to her before once again heading towards his next class.

===

"Yo."

Duo looked up with an unreadable expression on his face. It looked to be a cross between trying not to laugh - and shock that somebody was willing to use that word in public.

"Good morning, Hilde." He said with his typical happy-go-lucky smile.

The girl, Hilde Shubeiker, flopped down in the seat next to Duo with a sigh. Her chains and gaudy necklaces and bracelets clinked against each other loudly, the sound grating against Duo's ears. He was tempted to use his powers to make the noise stop, but Hilde was most likely used to the noise and would notice if it abruptly ended.

The girl snorted at Duo's math homework. "Why do you bother to do that stuff?" She asked.

Duo gave her a look that said quite clearly: "why do you think? I want to get out of this dumpy town." But otherwise didn't answer.

Hilde noted his look and rolled her eyes.

===

_"Capital of Washington?"_

Wufei sighed and spouted off the answer without looking up from his Physics book. "Olympia." He turned the page and continued reading before turning to his assignment and answering a question.

_"Another name for Ping-Pong?"_

The Chinese boy finished his sentence and put down his pencil. "Table Tennis. Meilan, can I do my homework now?"

"Not until I prove that I'm smarter!"

Wufei sighed, finally looking up into the almost black eyes of Meilan Long; he looked ready to yell at her. Then, abruptly changing his mind, he turned back to his work and began reading for the next question.

_"The science of plants?"_

"Botany."

===

Quatre looked up from his conversation with one of his "rich friends" with a frown. Usually the soft spoken boy could tolerate the presence of anybody, but there was something about Dorothy Catalonia that just rubbed him the wrong way.

"Were you hanging out with that prep again?" The blond haired girl demanded, pointing across the room where Trowa was listening to the latest gossip.

Two aqua colored eyes rolled before Quatre composed himself again. "Trowa and I are childhood friends, and if we spend time together, what's it to you?"

Dorothy huffed, clearly at a loss for an answer. "Because it makes you look bad to spend time with scum!"

**_"Excuse me?!"_**

Surprisingly, the shout didn't come from Quatre, but across the room where Catherine Bloom was now standing and death-glaring the rich girl.

"The only scum is you high-classed rich freaks!" Catherine defended Trowa with a sweep of her hand.

Quatre's aqua orbs met Trowa's amused green ones across the room and he immediately opened a link between the two of them.

_Me thinks that we were spotted over the weekend. We don't stand out that much do we?_ The blond asked with a long suffering sigh.

Trowa's mind sang with laughter. **Actually... yes. Didn't you ever wonder why each of us have our own stalkers? There's just something about us, I guess.**

Something about them indeed. Quatre sighed, closing the link with a regretful air. Yes, he knew that all too well. It had started on their first day at Gundam High, at the activity fair. Heero had rushed for the sports center, Duo attempted to turn himself invisible, Trowa went to examine the student council, Quatre wanted to see the different clubs and Wufei hadn't been there at all. He remembered how easily they had been sucked into different groups, and how those groups rejected each other. The first few weeks at Gundam High for the five friends had been tense before they worked out their schedules together. It had taken a lot of patience on all of their parts before they found a system that fit.

Duo would arrange lunch meetings. They would study and do homework together each night, either at Quatre's or Wufei's or Trowa's house. After studying they had their nightly language course - in which they taught each other different languages. On Friday nights they either hung out on the cliffs or at Heero's, and Sundays were spent either at the Maxwell Church and Orphanage or anywhere else they could find.

That wasn't to say that they didn't have lives outside of each other. Duo and Heero had jobs at The Shack. Heero and Wufei had after school activities. Trowa usually had some reason to stick around after school with friends, and Quatre was always meeting his sisters somewhere. They had lives outside of each other, and that's why their lives had been, and still were, so hectic.

===

"So... what language is it tonight?" Duo asked absently, most of his attention focused on the random objects that he was levitating across the room.

"We're going to focus on Sign-language tonight," Trowa answered, searching around the room for his text book. The text book that was currently hovering just over his head, curtsey of Duo.

Heero stretched out, flexing his wings slightly after having them trapped inside his flesh all day. The tips of his wings brushed lightly against Duo's arms in a teasing touch. A few stray feathers drifted to the floor, disappearing just before they touched the ground. "Good," he said, "we haven't done that one in a while."

Wufei and Quatre nodded, before the former suddenly disappeared and reappeared next to Duo. He was successful in causing his friend to lose his concentration and let all floating objects hit the ground.

The sign-language book thumped on Trowa's head, causing Duo to be on the receiving end of a death glare.

This was another ritual between the five boys. They had learned early on that each of them knew a different language because of their various backgrounds. So, each night they got together to share that knowledge. Heero taught them all Japanese, Duo taught them German (which he had learned at the orphanage), Trowa knew sign language, Quatre was fluent in Arabic, and Wufei grew up speaking Chinese.

Not only were they all multilingual by the fifth grade, but it gave them extra time to be themselves. They usually met up in Quatre's house, because he had almost an entire wing of the Winner mansion to himself. But sometimes it varied depending on different factors. Like, when Heero got the Chicken pox, or when Wufei got his tonsils out. It changed accordingly.

After about ten minutes of relaxing, they finally settled down to learn a little more sign language. Trowa really was an excellent teacher.

Much later that night they all returned to their own homes and fell into bed. And the week had only just begun.

===============================

AN A chapter is worth a thousand reviews, but I'll settle for whatever. Preferably a few hundred or so. ^__^

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	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** _is in the first chapter. Don't bother me about it._

**AN** _Can you believe it? I'm actually getting this story worked on! I didn't think I would have enough time to write this until about a week from now, but what do you know - chapter three is done! Thanks to everybody who corrected my spelling errors last chapter - I'm really bad at spelling._

**_If you have the time, I have a live journal that I post all my updates in. If I'm lucky, it might even make you laugh. The link is in my bio, please check it out._**

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**Chapter 3**

Work, as it typically should be, is a relatively boring experience. Even for one who works in a relatively exciting place, the routine eventually sets in and work becomes a boring pain in the ass. Heero had already learned this. He was manning the cashier at The Shack, while another worker was stationed at the grills. It was some new girl that had been hired only for fill-in work. It was to Heero's belief that the girl also had a job at All Videos, the local movie rental shop.

It was Wednesday, probably one of the most boring days of the week. Duo wouldn't be showing up at all for work because that particular Wednesday was "Clean up the Orphanage for the Open House" day at Maxwell Church.

To tell the truth, The Shack and the surrounding beach was completely deserted. There wasn't even a lone couple taking a stroll or a couple of kids building a sand castle to distract that supposed-to-be working teenager.

Heero huffed in boredom, slumping against the counter and pulling the brim of his hat a little lower over his eyes. At long last, the bell over the door jingled as it opened and the sound of footsteps covered up the hissing of grease. Almost immediately the athletic boy straightened up to greet his costumer.

"Welcome to The Shack, what can I get for you?" He recited, looking up into the face of a very old man.

The man was short and had gray hair oddly shaped like a mushroom, but his eyes were sharp and when he spoke it was in a strong and deep voice. A voice that demanded authority and respect. His words might have off-set the illusion, however. "Six Happy-Burgers, two medium Silly-Fries and five large coffees'." There was a brief pause: "To go."

"Anything else, sir?" Heero asked, punching the correct buttons on the cash register. He didn't need the silly machine to add up the total cost, but authority insisted, and Heero valued his job too much to object. "That will come to thirteen dollars and fifty-five cents."

While the man rooted through his clothing for his wallet, Heero turned and hollered to the back of The Shack: "Hey Silvia - six Happies, two sillies!" Before turning back around to receive the cash card thrust at him. He expertly rang up the sale, getting the coffee together while the machine processed.

"Please sign here..." The teen said, handing over the sales slip and a pen.

The man did so, his name almost printed: "Dr. G. Gersbad."

About five minutes later, the shop was back to its boring Wednesday self. Only a few families stopped by for dinner that night, and Heero had to forcibly remind himself to smile kindly, least he scare them away.

===

It was probably the first time that Duo was actually paying attention and taking notes during class. Not only that, but the long haired boy was actually participating and asking questions as well. It was probably because his Latin class had suddenly become interesting.

Most teachers would probably be suspicious of such an event. But Mr. Otto was just relieved he didn't have to put up with the two brightest boys in the class bickering. However, both the attention and the relief were short-lived because about ten minutes into the class, there was a knock on the door.

Mr. Otto paused in his explanation of which languages were based off of Latin and why, and walked over to the door.

Duo leaned over to ask Wufei something that, surprisingly enough related to the topic at hand.

"Maxwell - the principal would like a word with you, in his office."

Duo and Wufei shared muted looks of surprise, and the long haired boy slowly stood up. He gathered his things together, before flipping his braid over his shoulder and leaving the classroom.

And as it should have been, the walk to the office was long and quiet. Too quiet, for Duo's tastes. But the quiet wouldn't last long. Not only was Principle Kushrenada waiting for him in the main office, but so was Father Maxwell. And neither looked very pleased with the teen.

===

"So what was the prank this time?" Wufei asked later at lunch. He picked uninterestedly at his still cold noodles with chopsticks before reaching across the blanket to steal a slice of Heero's pizza.

Duo shrugged, looking with as much interest at his bologna sandwich as he would a single grain of sand. "I have no idea."

Heero smacked Wufei's hand away from his pizza, before offering a slice to his boyfriend - much to the Chinese boy's annoyance. "So you _weren't_ involved at all?"

Duo actually pouted, taking the slice and cramming into his mouth. "Mmph." He said around the food in his mouth.

Quatre wrinkled his nose in distaste. "At least _swallow_ before attempting to speak." He complained.

Two violet eyes rolled skyward before Duo lifted his hands. "They said something about stink-bombs in the locker-room." He signed, proving that he was nothing, if not multilingual.

"Girls or boys?" Trowa asked with interest. He had advanced physical education seventh period, so it would be good for him to know this bit of information.

Duo swallowed. "Girls."

"What's your punishment?" Quatre asked, now peering into his lunch bag to see if he had missed anything edible. He glared suspiciously at Wufei, who was now chewing contentedly on beef jerky. Wufei gave him an innocent look.

"Two days in school suspension." Duo grumbled, turning back to his sandwich and giving it new appreciation. He nearly inhaled the thing. "I don't even know what's awaiting me at home... probably a lot more yelling and life in my room."

The other four winced. They all knew what kind of temper sister Helen hand when she was extremely angry. And for Duo to pull something like this right before the Open House at the orphanage, Duo would be lucky if he would be able to hear after all this was over.

"They're holding me up in the library starting tomorrow." Duo sighed, flopping onto his back, and conveniently into Heero's lap. "Come visit me, ne?"

"Baka. _We_ have classes still."

"Man, this sucks. Stink bombs aren't my thing. I've had enough of bad odors in my life time."

His four friends laughed and the subject shifted to something a little more light hearted.

===

The phone of the orphanage rang shrilly, breaking the silence of dinner. Sister Helen put down her fork and knife, standing up to grab the phone.

"Hello?" She asked. One of her blond eyebrows twitched. "I'm sorry Quatre; Duo is grounded for the next week. He'll see you at school tomorrow." There was a pause. "Oh... I had forgotten... Yes, I'll tell him. Thank you, Quatre."

Duo, having perked up at the sound of his friends' name, watched with eager eyes as the nun replaced the phone on the receiver and walked back to the table. The woman calmly sat down and picked up her fork.

"He said that your study session tonight will be at his house." Helen finally said.

Duo didn't say anything, waiting for the rest of the message.

"Heero will come by to pick you up. I expect you back _before_ ten thirty."

"Yes, sister." The boy murmured.

"What'd you do?" Angel, a five year old girl asked. Her pretty blue eyes peered curiously at Duo, not noticing how both Sister Helen and Father Maxwell turned to look at the eldest boy.

"Nothing important, Angel." Duo sighed, putting down his things. He turned to Father Maxwell. "May I be excused?"

The priest nodded before turning to the rest of the children sitting around the table with a smile. "Who wants ice-cream?"

The kids, only six of them, though all of them were under the age of seven, cheered.

Duo, who was walking up the stairs towards his attic bedroom, heard the cheering and sighed softly. He knew that his guardians were angry at him, but he at least thought that they would believe him if he said he hadn't done it. If there was anything that Duo prided himself on it was never lying. He might stretch the truth a little, or give misleading answers, but never flat out lied. So, earlier that afternoon, when he had stated quiet clearly: "I didn't do it." he had expected them to believe him.

With another heavy sigh, Duo flopped down on his bed and turned on his radio, searching for some good music. What he came across was a news report.

"-Recent studies in youth inactivity have brought forth a new marvel. A group of five scientists have recently brought to public their discovery of "mutation" in youth. They say that this isn't a result of any experimenting, but that humans are born with such mutations. Experts in different subjects have already scorned this new development on the basis that there is no proof. It has been called a fairy tale, by one expert. The five scientists have recently disappeared, leaving no trace of themselves of their research."

Duo's eyes widened and he stared at his radio in shock. That was enough to become a main headline?

"-The agricultural state of our country has taken a turn for the better, farming is up ten percent and-"

With an abrupt flick of his mind, the radio shut off and the long haired youth flopped down on his back to think.

However, before much of _that_ particular past time had time to ensue, there was a knock at his door and Angel bounded in, holding a dish of ice cream.

"Duo!" The girl beamed, and with a flying leap landed sprawled across her "big brothers" chest. The ice cream remained in her hands, undisturbed from the quick movements. "I brought you dessert!"

"Isn't that _your_ ice cream?" Duo asked suspiciously, attempting to pry the little girl off of him. There was a long, drawn out pause.

"Maybe." The girl finally admitted.

Duo grinned. "Okay. I'll eat it."

He reached over with one hand to retrieve the bowl. Angel, not exactly pleased with Duo's decision, rolled off of him and ran to the other side of the room. "How much do you want it?" She taunted, laughter shining in her eyes.

"You'd be surprised what I would do for a little girl's ice cream." Duo told her, getting to his feet, his purple eyes glinting in the fading light. With a playful growl, he pounced, landing right in front of the girl who held his prize.

"...I'll take that..." He grinned broadly, snatching the dish out of her hands.

"AUGH!" Angel wailed, jumping frantically to get it back. "Gimme! It's mine!"

"But you were going to give it to me, remember?"

"That was before!"

"Ah Maxwell... your maturity never ceases to amaze me."

Both Duo and Angel turned in surprise, the former lowering the ice cream and letting the girl have it.

"You're early, Hee-chan." Duo said, sitting back down on his bed. Angel curled up next to him, eating her dessert contentedly while watching the two older boys talk.

Heero grinned and sat down at Duo's desk, picking up one of Duo's comic books and flipping through it idly. "Yes well... I had nothing better to do and Wufei asked me to pick you up." He tossed the comic to one side and grinned. "Besides, I'd never miss a chance to see you lose to a five year old."

The Japanese youth winked at Angel.

Duo pouted. "I didn't lose."

Angel did her best to wink back at Heero. "Did you come to play with us?" She asked. "Cause Duo got grounded?"

Heero laughed and moved to sit down on the bed. He reached over with one hand to ruffle the short brown hair belonging to the little girl. "No, my step-father let me use his bike, so I decided I didn't want to wait for another hour to get Duo."

Angel squealed and tossed her empty bowl towards the floor. "Can I have a ride on it? Please? Please?" Puppy eyes and pouty lips stared up at the boy.

Duo laughed as Heero failed to resist the look. "Who's losing to a five year old now?"

Heero scowled.

===

Going to Quatre's mansion of a house was always something of a treat for the blond's friends. They all outwardly claimed that it was became they were waited on hand and foot - but it was really the general atmosphere of the place. Quatre's house, though large and furnished with very expensive treasures, still held a very "lived in" feeling. It was probably because of the twenty-nine sisters that were constantly leaving their things around or lounging in rooms. The eldest of the sisters was well in her twenties, the youngest being just two years older than Quatre.

"Master Quatre!" A jovial voice sang from the top of the main stairs. "I wasn't aware that you were having friends over tonight!"

There was a slight accusing tone in that sentence.

"Yes Abdul, we're going to be studying up in my room... like we do every Thursday."

Quatre smiled his most innocent smile and turned back to Heero and Duo, who were looking a little wind-blown. "Why don't you two head upstairs and start studying and I'll go get us some food."

/Just don't spend too much time studying each other!/ Came the blonds teasing mental call as he headed towards the kitchens.

Duo and Heero flushed slightly before hurrying up the stairs towards Quatre's wing of the house. To their immense relief, neither Trowa nor Wufei were there yet, so they had the large room to themselves. The winged boy pulled his companion against his chest with a faint smile on his face. "Wouldn't want to disappoint our friend now would we?" He murmured.

"Heero... shut up and kiss me."

===

"Duo! Hurry up and get down here!"

Duo grumbled something unintelligible and rolled out of his bed and straight onto the floor. A string of curses in various languages later, Duo managed to get to his feet and stumble into an outfit that actually matched. Not wanting to waste time, he used his telepathic abilities to brush and braid his hair while he washed his face and brushed his teeth.

After a brief battle with the stairs, in which the teen lost spectacularly, he was finally downstairs and ready for the Open House. It was going to be a long and boring day.

By the time that Duo managed to scrounge a few bites of breakfast, Sister Helen rushed to his side and prodded him. "I need you out there with all the other kids! You need to be helping out! This might be your last chance to have a real family!"

Duo grinned easily at the nun and scooted out the doorway. Although, on the inside those words stung like no other. He had always felt that Sister Helen and Father Maxwell _were_ his family. Sure he had all of his friends, and their families looked out for him as well... but if it hadn't been for the nun and the preacher... none of that would have happened. He'd probably still be a street rat living in some hole somewhere. That's why his last name was "Maxwell" after all. To honor the people who had cared about him first.

"Duo!" One of the small children called, breaking Duo from his less than cheerful thoughts. A small blob of six year old child was suddenly attached to his leg. And than another blob on his other leg. Two small leaches clung to his arms while the final two children jumped on his back and chest respectively. Thanking whatever god looked out for him, Duo was able to avoid falling over and thus making a very large fool of himself in front of potential parents.

Suddenly... half of those children vanished with a cry of "Wufei!" Thus, leaving Duo very unbalanced. He crashed to the floor a moment later, taking the remaining three urchins with him.

"Graceful, very graceful Maxwell." Wufei snorted, bearing the weight of his three new cling-on's like a pro.

"What is this: "Pick on Duo" week?" He stopped talking and just glared. His glare stated the question: "And what the hell are you doing _here_?!"

Wufei smirked. "What? Miss a day like today? It's very important to you... And I had nothing better to do with my time, either way."

Sister Helen suddenly rushed in, looking even more rushed than she had about five minutes ago. "Children!" She nearly whined. "You need to be in the front room with the families! Wufei... I'm sorry but Duo is needed here today."

Wufei smiled kindly at the nun. "I know, I thought I'd come by and help out a bit. I know these kids can be a bit of a handful."

Sister Helen sighed in relief. "I'm so glad that Duo has some responsible friends! Thank you so much Wufei, if you boys would just watch the kids and make sure that they don't go running off or make too much noise. Maybe you could play some sort of game with them?"

The two teens nodded and herded the six small child-sized leaches into the main room for a rousing game of "Duo and Wufei Say" a very odd combination of "Simon Says" and "Mother May I".

===

Towards the end of the day, when all the potential parents were leaving, Duo and Wufei led all the kids towards their bedrooms. There were four such rooms in the orphanage, not including Duo's. Father Maxwell had one, as did Sister Helen. The remaining two rooms were divided between the six kids.

However, on this particular night all the kids would be sleeping in the same room, for comfort reasons.

"Duo, what if they didn't like us?" The youngest child asked, curling up on his bed.

"Stupid!" the eldest snarled, stamping one foot. "Didn't you see how they were looking at us? They think we're scum!"

Duo delivered a light smack. "Don't insult each other." He scolded lightly, settling down on the floor. Wufei sat down next to him, and the group of kids somehow gravitated into their laps and onto their arms.

"D'ya think we'll be good enough?" Angel asked softly.

Neither teenager knew how to answer the little girl.

===

On Monday, there was an abnormal amount of students in the library. Duo, who was hidden in the back corner of his current prison, alternated between watching the masses and doing his homework. At one point he actually fell asleep.

Some of the people who saw him glared - those would be the victims of his supposed prank. Other stared at him in interest - those being underclassmen, who had only seen him at the parties on Friday nights. Others yet patted him on the back or slipped him food and things to entertain himself with - those being his friends.

Monday passed in a boring stretch of time.

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**AN** _If you review, I promise I'll update. I'm trying to reach a hundred reviews in less than five posts, will you help me? Pretty please with Duo-plushies on top?_

**_._**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** _is in the first chapter. Don't bother me about it. [YYH characters don't belong to me either...]_

**AN** _Um... hi? Eh... I have no excuse for the long wait between this update and last time, except that this fic was put away on a shelf [or, you know, in my hard drive] while I desperately spent two weeks writing a YYH fic. I know, I'm a horrible person and I should have made that one wait. [If you want to read that fic, it's called "The Best Thief" please read it.] And, I kind of added Hiei and Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho. If you don't watch/read that anime, don't worry. I just needed names. They probably won't come back. No badgers were harmed in the making of this chapter._

_I think the **Hn Wars** were recreated in this chapter. ^__^_

_If you have the time, I have a live journal that I post all my updates in. And every once in a while, I post sneak peaks to chapters not yet finished or stories not yet posted. You might get lucky._

**Dedication:** _Saaski-chan - because she actually likes this story. [hugs]_

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**Chapter 4**

Trowa walked into his kitchen, looking for something decent to eat. The teen made a beeline straight for the ice box, hoping that perhaps his mother had hidden frozen pizzas, or something similar. After a moment of searching, the freezer door slammed shut, thus, revealing the sticker there that read: _"The deaf can do anything - except hear."_ Trowa ignored the sticker and began searching through the cupboards.

His mother walked in a few moments later and began rummaging to get dinner ready. Mrs. Barton was a fairly attractive woman. She was tall, though not nearly as tall as her son, and assertive. She had short brown hair and green eyes that were just as beautiful as her sons. In fact, her only flaw was that she was deaf, the outcome of an accident back in her youth. And her being deaf wasn't as much as a handicap as most people thought it to be. She could still speak and hold conversations. She was a pro at reading lips and was an expert in sign language, which is where Trowa learned it. To tell the truth, for a single, working mom, she was very well off.

"Wait until dinner to eat." The woman said firmly, finally pulling out a couple of pans before turning to her son with a stern glare in her eyes.

"But mom..."

"I might be deaf, Trowa, but I'm not stupid. Put that away now and wait until dinner. I promise that you can eat all you want _after_ dinner." She paused, thinking. "Is Veggie Stir-fry alright?"

The boy sighed, nodded and returned what he had managed to scrounge back to where it had come from, hidden behind the flour jar. As much as he loved his mother, there were some times that he wished she weren't so mother-like. Other parents let their kids eat before dinner, right? His grumblings about an empty stomach were ceased when the phone rang. Thinking that perhaps talking to somebody would lessen his hunger, Trowa headed for the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, this is Mr. Naturi, from the windshield factory... We're conducting a survey concerning accident prone drivers. Is your mother home?"

Trowa looked into the kitchen where his mother was now slicing vegetables. "Yes."

"...May I speak to her please?"

The teenager held back a snort of dry humor before presenting the man with his answer. "No."

And he hung up. After that, he took a grand total of one step before the accursed communication device rang again, its shrill siren call forcing him to cringe. With a sigh, the boy turned back to his new enemy and picked it up.

"He-"

"Trowa! I made it into the competition!"

"-llo..."

There was a pause while Trowa attempted to put his brain back into his head. After a moment or so, it clicked. "Wufei?"

That one word seemed to open a dam in Wufei, and the teen began speaking at rapid speeds, probably to burn up his sudden surge of adrenaline. And Trowa just stood in the hallway until the verbal onslaught ended. Ten minutes later, the Prep was finally able to offer his congratulations to his brainy friend. After all, the competition that Wufei had been ranting about was in fact, one of the most important martial arts competitions in the entire state of Maine. Only a select few people got in and for Wufei, who had been hoping and practicing for nearly two years, to get in - it was a big deal.

"You can come, can't you?" Wufei asked, in a way that seemed to be bordering on pleadingly hopeful.

Trowa answered right away. "Of course!" He assured his friend. "I'll ask my mom at dinner and tell you tomorrow for sure." He could practically hear his oriental friend's grin.

"Alright, I'm going to call the others now."

Click.

Trowa spent about two minutes staring at the now dead line in his hand before hanging up the phone. He turned back to his mother, who was still happily chopping vegetables. His stomach growled.

===

"Hey Fei, I've got a question." Duo said casually during the two boys' Latin class. He glanced around quickly to make sure that nobody was listening and switched into Arabic, just in case. "Why are you suddenly teleporting more now?"

Wufei tensed slightly, the grip he had on his pencil tightening minutely. "No reason." He answered tersely, not relaxing his grip. "I just figured it might come in handy."

"Boys!" Mr. Otto snapped, turning away from the white board he had been writing verbs on. "Care to share your conversation with the class?"

It wasn't a request.

Duo, at least, had perfected the fake embarrassed look. He clumsily began an excuse in his flawed Latin. Mr. Otto dismissed it, not wanting to get in between another argument of Duo and Wufei. At least, what he assumed was an argument. The teacher turned back to the white board, missing the shared look of relief between his two students.

===

"So, I was thinking that because the competition is Saturday night, and it will take us two hours to get there - we could leave Friday and hang out until my parents arrived on Saturday morning."

"One problem." Duo broke in, pausing in his _"let's-see-how-much-food-I-can-shove-down-my-throat-at-once"_ game. "Heero and I are working Friday night until eleven."

"And I have violin lessons at four." Quatre put in.

"Flute lessons." Trowa couldn't help but add.

Wufei muttered dark threats under his breath about having friends with social lives that didn't work with his own plans. He bit into his egg-roll and chewed angrily.

"Wufei..." Heero sighed. "If you want, we can leave after the party on Friday. Haven't you always wanted to go cruising at night without your parents?"

The boy in question perked up, and his friends heaved collective sighs of relief.

"So, that's settled." Trowa said. "What now?"

Silence blanketed the five boys.

"Hn." Heero finally grunted, reaching over and stealing some of Wufei's beef-jerky.

And thus began a wrestling match that entertained them all until the bell rang.

===

"Duo, I swear, if you don't shut up I'm going to throw you out of this car!" Heero growled, sending his vicious death glare towards his boyfriend. Duo eeped quietly. His message having been said, Heero turned back to his computer, where he was checking his e-mail.

"Gods, how did she get my e-mail address this time?" He muttered a few moments later.

Duo, who was sitting right next to Heero in the Chang family's jeep, sighed, turning off his portable CD player, finally ending his singing. The others sighed in relief.

They had been in the car for just over an hour, steadily making their way towards Wufei's martial arts competition. Not that the trip was particularly exciting. In the back seat, Quatre was sleeping, leaning against the window as comfortably as his seatbelt would allow. Heero was sitting in the middle, working on his computer and Duo was right next to him, being entertained with music and comics. In the front of the jeep, Wufei was driving; most of his attention was focused on that. And in the passenger seat, Trowa was alternating between reading a book and talking with Wufei in quiet voices.

The group had left right after the Beach Party had ended, like they planed. Wufei's family would arrive sometime the next day, around midday, and attend the tournament that afternoon. They would all leave the day after that.

The car was silent for two minutes.

_"Mou..." _Duo finally whined, "This is boring! Fei, turn on the radio or something!"

"I thought you brought your diskman," Trowa said, turning around slightly.

"It would explain his singing." Wufei added.

Quatre chose that moment to insert a very audible snore.

"..."

"The batteries died, didn't they?" Heero sighed, glancing over at his boyfriend.

"..."

Wufei sighed and turned on the radio, fiddling with the knob to find a decent station.

_"-After last weekends "Mutant Find", after which the five scientists disappeared from their lab, taking with them nearly everything related to their find, a team of specialists found what appeared to be notes on the subject and a few blood samples. After a few tests on the blood, and carefully reviewing the notes, teams discovered that the "Mutant Theory" just might be plausible. It is still unknown as to how to decide who is a mutant and who is not. Nothing is known as to how this happened, or why, or even what sorts of mutations there are. Very little is known about possible dangers that these Mutants pose for Humans, but the threat is very real. Researchers are working around the clock to bring you more news.-"_

Wufei switched off the radio.

The car was silent for the rest of the drive.

===

"Fighting next will be long time fighter, Chang Wufei! His opponent will be first timer Minamino Shuuichi. Both fighters are skilled, but it seems that Chang will have the upper hand in this fight..."

"Yeah! Go Fei!" Duo screamed, waving his hands over his head.

Next to him, Heero hid his face in his hands. On the other side, Quatre cheered as well, while Trowa simply clapped.

The group quieted as their friend walked into the center of the mat to meet the red head already waiting there.

"I thought that the boys weren't allowed to fight the girls," Quatre said suddenly, taking in his friend's opponent.

Quatre's mistake was plausible. Standing in the middle of the mat with a tall and slender body the fighter did look like a girl at first glance. With long red hair tied back in a simple ponytail, and wide green eyes, Minamino Shuuichi did look very feminine.

"Minamino is a boy." Somebody said from behind Quatre. "He just refuses to cut his hair."

"Sounds like somebody we know," Heero mused, turning around to look at the person who had just spoken. This boy was short and young looking, though his voice had been very deep. He had very Asian looking eyes, and spiky hair. He wore black, no other colors.

"Hn."

"Hn." Heero returned.

The boy scowled at him.

The group of boys nodded politely at each other, but didn't engage in any more small talk.

"Fight!" The referee shouted, and thus, began the fight.

It was a very impressive fight; both Wufei and Shuuichi were very evenly matched. However, in the end, it was Wufei who won - however narrow the victory was.

"Yeah! Fei rocks all!" Duo shouted, thrusting one fist into the air.

He at least had the decency to wait for the two fighters to bow to each other before rushing his friend and glomping him from behind.

"Kurama!" A voice called.

Minamino turned and smiled at his small friend. His friend being the boy who had commented about his long hair. "It was a good fight ne, Hiei?"

"Hn. You should have won."

"Please excuse me," the red head said, bowing once more before hurrying off with his small friend. "Really Hiei, Chang was a good fighter - the best man won."

"I suppose you'll just have to work harder to beat him next time..."

_"Work harder?!"_ Kurama protested, hurrying after his smaller friend. _"Next time?"_

The two disappeared into the crowd.

"You were great Fei!" Duo exclaimed, leading his friend off the mat and back towards the others. "I've never seen you fight so well!"

"I had a good opponent..." Wufei tried to explain, his cheeks tinted a slight pink from the excitement of winning such a fight.

"Don't sell yourself short, Chang." Heero said, walking up to the two and wrapping an arm around Duo's shoulders. "That was pretty impressive."

"Yes," Quatre chirped, dragging Trowa over and joining the conversation. "I've never seen you so intent on a fight."

Wufei blinked, unsure if that was a compliment or an insult.

===

"So... what do you think of this whole Mutant thing?" Quatre quietly asked his friends.

Silence rang at the restaurant table while the five boys sitting together debated on the best words to use.

"They make it sound like it's not human." Duo finally said, staring down at his silverware. "I've only heard two reports on it - but they make "Mutants" sound like specimens in a science lab."

"A good reason to hide it." Trowa declared. "It probably will be legalized to test them."

He said 'them' as though he and his four best friends weren't mutants themselves.

"Is there really any other way to take it?" Heero mused finally, also not making eye-contact with his friends. "There can hardly be an upside to the public learning about this. It will bring fear - and fear turns quickly to hatred. There's no reason for them not to be afraid."

Their soft conversation was interrupted by the arrival of their meals.

===

"Par-tay!" Duo cried, swinging himself over The Shack counter and rushing off to mingle in the larger-than-usual crowd.

It had been a tough week for Duo. After the Open House the weekend before, two children had been adopted - and an infant had been taken in. It always happened that way. An Open House wasn't always for kids that were up to be adopted, but a check in for kids who needed a place to stay. The youngest girl had been taken; the oldest boy had been taken. And a two month old child had been brought in. Sleepless nights were guaranteed - either because of his crying "siblings" or the screaming of a baby.

Naturally, after a week of that, anybody would need something to relieve all the stress. For Duo - it was the Friday night party at The Shack.

"Duo!" Heero shouted after the disappearing boy. "You still have to work!"

"I'll be back in ten minutes, Hee-chan!" Duo called back before disappearing completely into the crowd.

Heero sighed, turning back to the cashier. It was only eight; there was another hour before the Dance Contest and other beach contests were to start. And another two hours before the task of clearing out the beach would begin. He was tired too. Football season had just ended and basketball season was about to begin. Plus, it was almost time for Mid-terms, a time when most of his classes had their "half way through the first quarter" exams.

He knew that Duo would keep to his promise and be back in ten minutes. But he also hated working the front alone.

Duo, on the other hand, was now weaving his way through the crowd, talking, laughing and dancing as he went. Though most people didn't like the top punk at Gundam High, his high spirits and easy going attitude were easy to be trapped by. Duo could engage in conversation with just about anybody and leave with a smile.

It also helped that people were afraid to insult him to his face because he hung out with a group of tough thugs.

"Maxwell!" A voice shouted over the music.

Duo turned and stared in shock at the girl standing just behind him. Hilde scowled at him, clad in her black clothes and chained glory.

"I've been trying to talk to you all week but you keep skipping off." The girl accused him, grabbing his arm and dragging him away from the party. She finally stopped moving once they were hidden near the dumpster behind The Shack. It was probably the only abandoned place on the beach at that moment, and only because of its stench.

Duo cocked an eyebrow at his stalker, encouraging her to talk. He added an easy going smile to the mix and watched as she forgot what she was about to say**_. /You can change your outside appearance but you can't change the girl inside,/_** he thought to himself.

Hilde used to be a very quiet girl, liked by everybody. He sudden turn to the Goth look had been because of the death of her father, and the fact that she had developed a crush on Duo. In true fashion, she changed who she was in hopes that Duo would notice her. Duo didn't want to hurt her feelings by telling her, but he thought that Hilde had been a much nicer person before her change. And he pretended not to notice her crush because he was already dating Heero - however much of a secret that it was.

"I wanted to ask you," Hilde said finally, shoving her hands deep into the pockets of her baggy pants. "If you'd like to go to a poetry reading with me tomorrow night." She chanced a hopeful look at her crush. "And then maybe for coffee."

"You still go to poetry readings, Hilde?" Duo asked, surprised. "I didn't know that. I thought that you had stopped going."

"You go to poetry readings?!" The girl blinked, obviously not expecting that.

"Eto... I have some friends that drag me there..."

"Wow, I've only ever seen Quatre Winner at the Poet House," Hilde said, missing Duo's sudden wince. Yeah, that was the friend that dragged him down there.

For a few moments the only sounds were the buzzing of flies around the dumpster.

"So," Hilde said, regaining her tough girl attitude. "Will you come with me?"

"Like a date?" Duo hedged, trying to think of a way to let the girl down gently. He did have a boyfriend after all.

"Well... yeah."

"Hilde," Duo sighed. "You're a great person and all, but I'm already seeing somebody." He flashed a grin. "We've been together for years - I don't think we'll break up anytime in the near future either. So, I can't go on a date with you because I don't want to be a two-timer."

Hilde's shoulders slumped forwards. "Oh." She said softly. "Well, thanks anyway."

Duo embraced the girl in a hug. "Gomen nansai."

The nice-girl-turned-punk sighed. "Tell me who she is?" She asked, sounding pathetic.

Duo tensed. He knew full well what people at Gundam High thought about homosexuals. There had been a freshman who was openly homosexual that didn't even last a month in the school. Duo was used to people hating him behind the back, but could he take it when thrown directly in his face? Could he take the teasing and mocking and pranks that were sure to follow if he revealed to Hilde that he wasn't dating a girl, but a boy? Taking one look at the girl, he decided that he could. Since when did the great Duo Maxwell care about what people thought about him? He could take pranks and teasing.

"Unless you can't tell me," Hilde continued, obviously having taken Duo's silence for reluctance.

"No, it's not that." Duo spoke hesitantly, releasing the girl form his hug. "It's just - I'm not dating a girl..."

Hilde gasped and stumbled backwards. "You're..." she whispered.

Duo clenched his eyes shut. "Bisexual." He admitted.

When he opened his eyes again, Hilde was gone.

===

The weekend went by too quickly for Duo's tastes. He spent the entirety of it with Heero, at Heero's house. They worked on homework together, ranted in various languages about various subjects, and spent time catching up after a week of not being able to show their affection for each other.

And Duo told Heero about what he had said to Hilde.

So, needless to say when both boys arrived at school that Monday, they were both worried. Neither of them wanted to have rumors circulating about them. For surely, Hilde had spilled Duo's secret - or somebody had overheard their conversation.

It was the second theory that proved to be true. But only Duo was affected.

"Fag." Somebody whispered in his ear as he walked down the hallway, skillfully avoiding thrust out legs and backpacks to remain on his feet and not trip.

"Freak."

"Queer."

"Pillow biter."

"Fairy."

Nobody was actually brave enough to physically attack him. Everybody knew what Duo was capable of, after his display of rage freshman year. Nobody knew that one of Duo's best friends was a Martial Arts nut, or that his boyfriend was a strong boxer. Duo had picked up his own fighting style after playing "punching bag" for the two for years on end. He was quick and strong, and packed a mean right hook. Especially when he was threatened.

Though physical attacks were scarce, his pride was smashed. His locker had been kindly decorated with shaving cream. His gym clothes had been switched with a leotard. Spit wads were flying towards him left and right.

But the biggest blow came right before lunch. By Solo, and the rest of his punk friends. They had rejected him as well. Harshly, cruelly... and very publicly.

Monday, it seemed, didn't want to end. Monday, it seemed, was Duo's new nightmare.

That day after school he rushed home to the orphanage and locked himself up in his room. He refused to come out for even Quatre. Wufei was the only one able to get into his room.

And Duo let him stay, because though Heero might have been his boyfriend - Wufei was his best friend. His fist friend. The only friend he had even cried in front of.

Duo cried that afternoon.

===============================

**AN** _Eto... was it worth the wait? So, Kurama and Hiei probably won't come back unless people want them to. And now: **THE VERY SECRET... SECRETS OF: TROWA!** Trowa is a vegetarian. Trowa doesn't have a father. Trowa is a changeling and can take the form of any living animal [including humans]. Trowa was born in Greece. Trowa will do anything for his friends. Towa plays the flute. Trowa is in gymnastics._

**Review plea:** _review and I'll try to update faster? [hopeful]_

.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** _Is in the first chapter... I think. Don't hurt me.   
_**Kuroi-chan's disclaimer:** _The nickname 'Sagi-chan is copyrighted to Kuroi. Any other who uses it will be mocked, laughed at, and will ultimately suffer at the hands of her vengeful and depressing wrath. That and she'll nag me into yelling at you.   
_**Saaski-chan's disclaimer:** _The nickname Leeni-chan is copyrighted to Saaski. Use it and die. [temp. disclaimer]_

**AN** _So... this took forever to get out - I'm really sorry about that. [dies] Should I even mention the fact that finals are coming up? No, I'll just state that my birthday is next Sunday. That's right, the 23rd. Just letting you all know... So, sorry about the shortness [it's 8 pages, damnit!] but Wufei was being difficult this time and pinning him down became annoying. Eh...heh... Enjoy?_

==============================

**Chapter 5**

Sister Helen paced worriedly in the kitchen of the orphanage. It was still evening, the sun had yet to fall from the sky, but she was worried. All four of Duo's friends had come over that afternoon, which was odd.

Heero, she knew, had practice after school and was seldom available before seven in the evening. Quatre too, had after school club meetings he had to attend. Trowa had flute lessons and gymnastics practice and was often as unreachable as Heero. And Wufei, though he was probably the most flexible of the four, had extra homework to accomplish due to his college prep courses, not to mention his martial arts practice.

For all of those boys to abandon their previous commitments on the same day and visit Duo was a big deal. It meant that something had happened at school. Something else that Duo wasn't telling her.

She hated it when the long haired boy kept secrets from her. It made her feel as though he didn't trust her enough to fully embrace her as a part of his life.

Duo kept many secrets from herself and Father Maxwell. He kept them from his classmates, from the other orphans - she wouldn't be surprised if there were things Duo kept from his four closest friends.

_"Ahem."_

Sister Helen spun around, one hand pressed against her chest in surprise. She immediately recognized Quatre and smiled hopefully.

"Is Duo...?"

"He... had a very difficult day at school today," Quatre said softly. "There are some rumors going on about him and many of his other friends have deserted him." The small blond haired boy offered the nun a smile. "But he still has us, and he has other people who care about him as well. I'm sure that he'll be fine in a few days. It was just a bit of a shock to him."

Sister Helen sighed in relief and sunk down into one of the kitchen chairs. On the chair next to her the new infant of the orphanage, Hikaru, gurgled and lifted one fist into the air. Sister Helen smiled down at the baby and placed a small plastic toy in the bassinet. A rumor wasn't so horrible, she decided. Naturally she was curious as to what the rumor was, but she held herself back from asking. It was Duo's secret to tell her when he felt she needed to know.

"Eto..." Quatre said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I actually came down to ask if you had any drinks or snacks..." He laughed slightly. "We're all growing boys, you understand and we-"

"Get hungry a lot." Sister Helen finished for him, looking up from Hikaru. "Yes, there are some crackers in the cupboard, and soda's in the fridge."

She smiled again as she watched Quatre take the crackers and soda's. It wasn't really the others who had such large appetites. Just the cheery blond rummaging through the cupboards. One wouldn't think Quatre's stomach demanded so much, but the small boy could hold a surprisingly large amount of food. And he ate. A lot. If Quatre was able to think about food now, that had to mean that Duo had calmed down from his previous temper and shouting.

The teen was right: Duo would be okay in a day or two.

===

Quatre attempted to knock on Duo's bedroom door, regardless of the fact that his arms were weighted down with drinks and snacks. The attempt, having obviously failed, left the poor boy stranded outside the locked attic door. Suddenly, with a stroke of genius, Quatre resorted to tapping into Trowa's mind and asking his friend to unlock the door for him. Within the next minute, Trowa's hair covered face greeted him with an amused smile.

"You've got to stop reading my mind," he teased the blond, accepting half of the soda's with a wry smile.

Said blond telepath smirked playfully and breezed into the room. "I'm bound to find something interesting in there eventually," he called over his shoulder. Quatre then turned his attention to Duo. "Soda? Or juice?"

Duo looked up at him from the confines of his boyfriends embrace. The long haired orphan still looked rather defeated, not at all like his usually happy-go-lucky self. But his cheery mask would be in place for the next day, and he would eventually bounce back.

"Soda." He answered softly, not moving.

Instead, a can of his favorite soda floated out of Quatre's grasp and into Duo's unextended hand. It popped open a second later and the boy gratefully gulped down the carbonated caffeine.

Heero and Wufei accepted their own drinks and snacks, and the room remained silent, save for the chewing and swallowing.

The four boys had been sitting in Duo's bedroom for hours. Comforting him, cracking jokes, doing homework and simply being there for him when he needed them.

Eventually though, the group of friends had to leave. Trowa was the first to leave, not wanting to worry his mother too much. He had already skipped his gymnastics lesson earlier that afternoon, no need to skip out on dinner and a lecture. Quatre was the next to head out, followed by Wufei, who had been offered a ride home. Heero, on the other hand, didn't leave Duo's side until Sister Helen kicked him out of the orphanage around ten that night.

That left them about four hours to be alone together. To talk about what ever they wanted, to discuss what they were going to do about their relationship.

Duo vehemently refused Heero's offer to leave the closet. He defended his motion saying that if a mere social outcast like him had been shunned so horribly - what would somebody who was popular and well-liked be treated like?

And Heero was equally against his boyfriend suffering through the needless hazing alone. He especially hated being witness to said torture and not being able to do anything about it.

They came to a compromise. Heero would keep his sexuality a secret for the time being, and Duo would spend more of his school-time with the moody jock. There was bound to be a negative reaction for the second part of the compromise, but Heero didn't care and Duo would need somebody to be there for him when the worst hit. Leaving the long haired boy alone just wasn't an option in Heero's mind.

It was strange actually. Though both boys protested about what the other had to offer, they were very obviously relieved that it had been offered. And at the same time they were also given relief because what they had offered the other was similarly rejected. Heero didn't really want to admit his sexuality to the public, and Duo didn't want to be alone all day.

Not that they cared what other people thought of them, of course. It was just that nobody wants any of their secrets revealed, and regardless of it you care or not - it does hurt when people openly reject you.

School the next day would be interesting - that was the only thing that both Duo and Heero agreed on.

===

If Duo had previously thought that Monday was a nightmare, Tuesday was much worse. Although he constantly had a friend - usually Heero - by his side... the endless torturing of his pride brought him down to hell.

While nightmares are unpleasant, at least you can wake up from them. And that alone made Monday look like a walk in a park compared to Tuesday. Granted, that park was rather barren and dead, but it was a park all the same.

So, even with the ever constant presence of Heero beside him, Duo was still miserable.

After school was over, because Heero had basketball practice, Wufei transported the long haired boy home - so as to avoid any unnecessary hazing which was sure to occur if Duo walked home alone. As he typically did.

"I don't need to be babied," Duo complained after Wufei had released the tight hold he had on his upper bicep.

Wufei didn't answer if favor of focusing his breathing to attempt to suppress any nausea that might occur. Though that particular symptom was rare with Wufei, it wasn't absolutely unheard of. This was one of those times, and when such a thing happened, it was no small deal. It meant something bad had happened, or was going to happen. Usually, anyway.

"Fei?" Duo asked, peering worriedly as his friend.

The Chinese scholar grinned weakly. "Fooled you with that one." He said quietly, opening his obsidian eyes. The twinkled slightly, though Wufei's strength was very obviously tapped.

"You've gone farther than that before, with no problems." Duo frowned, "what's wrong with you now?"

"Quatre ate half of my lunch," Wufei explained, shaking himself slightly. "I'm just hungry."

Duo's eyes took on a slightly frightening gleam. "Than let's fatten you up!" He declared, dragging his friend into the church kitchen. He pulled the protesting Asian teen down the hall and forced him to sit in a time worn chair.

And at Sister Helen's first sight of the pale faced Wufei, she patted his head like a small child and immediately began shoving food down his throat.

He didn't have a chance, really. However, Duo wasn't exempt from the feeding ritual either. So at least Wufei wasn't suffering alone.

===

As was typical during basketball season, being in the gym after school was always a deafening experience. There were kids shouting across the gym to each other, balls bouncing against the hard floor, and the sporadic whistle screech.

In this kind of atmosphere, Heero Yuy wasn't exactly what you could call relaxed, but the noise and the energy from such a place made him more comfortable than in any quiet room, like a library. He was odd like that. While Heero himself was a rather quiet individual, he thrived in an environment that was alive. In a gym any noise he happened to make would be swallowed by every other noise, but in a library it felt that any single movement would be amplified indefinitely. It was simply more relaxing when he didn't have to worry about what people were thinking about him.

Currently, Heero was running laps, dodging the odd ball that rolled through his path. Because he was an asset to all sports teams the school, most people were content to let him do whatever he wanted during practice. But today... was different. Today, the top jock had allied himself with the gay reject. Today wasn't most days. And "most people" weren't content to let him be.

_"Oi, Yuy!"_

Heero neatly dodged the ball that was thrown at his head. And he kept running.

"Do you think you're better than us? Come and practice like the rest of us, you slacker!"

"Is that really wise to say? He's the best player we have!"

"Shut up! I'm not going to take his crap anymore!"

Heero sighed, slowing his steps and slipping into a light jog. He loped casually around the perimeter of the gym once more, moving out of the path of several more wayward basketballs with ease.

He would eventually join the others on the team for warm-up and drills. But for now, he would use this time for himself - regardless of what the rest of the teams thought.

"You think that somebody with a stick that far up his ass would at least acknowledge us." Somebody complained loudly as Heero ran past once again.

Heero's jaw tightened minutely but he said nothing.

"Hello Heero," a strangely cheerful voice said as another player fell into step with him.

Heero glanced over at the girl before grunting. "Relena." He said in response.

The girl smiled prettily at him and they ran on in silence for a few more moments. "I was just wondering," Relena said finally, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. She kept his pace easily, not even breathing hard. "I noticed that you were spending a lot of time with Duo Maxwell today... don't you know that he's gay?"

"Bi."

"Hm?" Relena wasn't quite sure that Heero had actually said anything, with all the noise in the gym it was hard to tell - but at the same time, some sound or other had fallen from her crush's lips. "Did you say something, Heero?"

"He's bisexual." Heero repeated himself, not looking over at the girl clad in rather preppy looking warm up clothes. Really, that much pink shouldn't be allowed on one person. If there was a color that Heero hated, it was probably pink - and only because Relena swathed herself in it everyday. "And Duo is my friend. I'm allowed to spend time with him if I want to."

Relena was quiet for a moment, slowly digesting the information. "I wasn't aware that the two of you were friends," she said, carefully avoiding the sexuality subject. Something in the boy's tone had said that the subject was off limits.

"We've been friends for a long time," Heero finally admitted, "ever since the second grade."

The pink clad basketball player was surprised, to say the least. That was information that had somehow stayed out of the rumor mills. At Gundam High, nothing stayed out of the rumor mills. Especially not about people like Heero and Duo. The two boys were quite popular, in their own ways. Heero was the jock, popular because he was involved in every sport and could be counted on for always winning the game. And Duo was popular in the opposite way - he was a rebel. He ran with the "bad crowd", it was rumored that he was involved in illegal activities, and he was never caught pulling pranks - but everybody knew that he was the one who pulled them. Their popularities might have been completely different - just as their personalities were - but they were popular none the less. And any news about the two was immediately big news.

The fact that the two had managed to stay friends since the second grade - and keep that fact a secret - was big news. News that could probably drown out the fact that Duo was gay. No, not gay, Relena corrected herself, bi.

She wondered why the two boys hardly acknowledged each other during school, but then she realized... that they did. Each morning they would greet each other in whatever language it was that they spoke. Their lockers were right next to each other - she remembered Heero requesting that particular locker at the beginning of the school year. It must have been for the two to be near each other. Relena could also understand why the two had kept their friendship quiet. They were from two different social worlds - people wouldn't be happy to know that their favorite jock was buddy-buddy with some punk loser.

The coach entered the room at that moment, ending their jog around the gym. Heero and Relena parted ways in order to participate in their respective practices.

And Tuesday passed without any negative incident

===

Wufei was mad.

It wasn't something that was hard to see - if the Chinese boy was angry, he showed it as obviously as possible.

If he could, Wufei vented his anger with physical activity - that being his martial arts training. He threw himself into his punches, kicks, dodging... everything. He focused his anger to motivate him until he was too exhausted to do anything except curl up and hate the injustices of the world he lived in.

But while he worked, he ranted.

"I hate-" punch, dodge. "How people-" kick, jump. "Judge others!" Punch, spin. He paused, panting slightly, before beginning again. "They should all- just stay out- of his business! I want to- kick all of their- asses!"

"Wufei!"

Wufei stopped, his leg still lifted in the motions of his last kick. He turned, staring with wide, surprised eyes at his mother. "Eh... ni hao..." He added a smile.

"Don't you "hello" me!" His mother ranted, walking a little further into the yard where her son was still standing with one leg lifted in the air. "I don't want to hear you say those words ever again!" She paused, her black eyes twinkling slightly. "Dinner's ready, go wash up."

The teen nodded, his anger having been shocked away, and hurried into the house. He would continue ranting later - after dinner.

He was hungry again, despite the snack that Duo had shoved down his throat.

==============================

**AN** _It was short and I curse Wufei for being so difficult to write! CURSE HIM! Please heed all disclaimers at the beginning of the chapter. Please excuse my bad spelling/grammar and my fangirl-ish Japanese and Chinese._

**_Review, ne?_******


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** is in the first chapter. And if you've come this far thinking that I own GW - I laugh at you.

**Kuroi-chan's disclaimer: **_The nickname _**'Sagi-chan**_ is copyrighted to _**Kuroi**_. Any other who uses it will be mocked, laughed at, and will ultimately suffer at the hands of her vengeful and depressing wrath. That, and she'll nag me into yelling at you.  
_**Saaski-chan's disclaimer: **_The nickname _**Leeni-chan**_ is copyrighted to _**Saaski**_. Use it and die._

**AN** [slowly moves back into the light]. _And after over a month... chapter six arrives_ [cowers in fear of the wrath of angry readers]. _Not only is this chapter extremely late, but it's also rather short. Not much happens in it, because it's really only a filler chapter for what's to come. Sorry. And as of right now... I have no excuses. Except for the fact that I suddenly and randomly tripped into the Naruto world where I had a brief stay. But I've extracted myself and tripped my way back into the Gundam universe. I hope you all are happy._

**Chapter 6**

Trowa walked into his second period class, holding his flute loosely but firmly in his hands. The fact that he was the only male flute player somehow managed to elude him for the past four years, but it's not like he cared anyway. Gender rules and restrictions had never bothered him and he was very good at his chosen instrument.

_"Trowa!"_

With an imperceptible wince, said changeling turned to see his rather creepy and possessive stalker waving at him from her seat towards the end of the flute section. The fact that Catherine was really bad at her chosen instrument seemed to elude her for the past four years as well, something that the girl actually managed to work towards her advantage, and thus, against Trowa.

Trowa was probably the only one of the five friends that couldn't stand his stalker. It wasn't the fact that it was Catherine Bloom that stalked him - it was the fact that she tried so hard to impress him. But the fact that she had the most obvious crush - which she denied - and called him at least twice a day. Lucky for Trowa, his mother didn't answer the phone and he was rarely home at a decent hour.

Before he could begin trudging his way - and such a long trudge it would be - over towards Catherine, and be engaged in the inevitable before class discussion about people lower on the social ladder, Quatre appeared before him with a worried expression plastered on his face.

"Do you know what's wrong with Duo?" The small blond telepath asked worriedly in a low voice. "He's broadcasting a lot of sadness this morning..." Said boy then turned his unbeatable pleading blue eyes towards his friend. Those eyes set off warning bells in Trowa's mind. 'Warning: Quatre wants something!' "Could you go check on him? He's not answering me."

Well, that was a great thing to ask. Ditch class to check on Duo and thus be forced to face the wrath of the teacher and quite possibly the principle. Not a pleasant thought. On the other hand, if he skipped class, he could avoid Catherine until the end of the day, maybe until tomorrow.

Yeah, like that was a difficult decision.

"He's on the roof," Quatre supplied with a faint smile.

Without a moment's hesitation Trowa bee-lined towards the band teacher, one hand clamped against his stomach in a pretty bad attempt at an _"I'm suddenly and randomly feeling sick to my stomach"_ act. After a few brief words, the tall boy slipped out of the room bearing a hall pass. He nodded towards Quatre, who nodded back with a triumphant smile.

Trowa moved in to the instrument storage room and quickly put away his flute before hurrying towards the roof. Upon reaching said place, he checked to make sure nobody was present before transforming himself into a cat and walking slowly towards his friend.

Duo barely acknowledged his presence. After a brief: "Hey, Tro." he remained silent and staring into the distance over the school wall.

Trowa sighed as best he could, considering the fact that he was still a cat. His little shoulders hunched in what could be perceived as a slump. It was moments like these that Quatre's telepathy would be more useful than his changeling abilities.

"I thought it was the boyfriend's job to provide comfort." Duo finally mused to himself in a failed attempt at dry humor.

Then again, Trowa thought, as one of Duo's hands began rubbing his back; there were a few plusses to his own mutant abilities. He purred, unconsciously arching his body towards that comfort giving hand. Whether he was Heero or not, he knew that Duo would appreciate somebody coming to check on him.

Wait - wasn't he supposed to be giving Duo comfort, and not the other way around? Oops.

"Hee-chan would kill us for this, ne?" Duo said with a half-hearted smile.

"..."

"Did Q send you?" Duo asked, still staring into some unknown distance.

Trowa refrained from answering. Because of two reasons, really. One, his current vocal chords didn't allow it - as he was a cat - and two, Duo already knew the answer to his question.

"It's... nice that he's so worried about me," Duo murmured finally, looking down at the cat currently resting in his lap. "I guess. But he doesn't need to worry - I'm fine."

One of Trowa's furry ears twitched as the door to the roof opened and closed in a loud bang. He hissed slightly at the sound but otherwise didn't move in favor of Duo continuing to rub his back. It was nice that the boy had his priorities straight, at least.

"Duo?"

"Hm?"

The long haired boy looked up with a rather surprised look. Not surprise that somebody was skipping class to come to the roof, but surprise that somebody who wasn't one of his closest friends was skipping class to come and see him. His gaze landed on Hilde, the nice girl turned punk. But, she wasn't looking all that punk - in fact, was that a hint of color she was wearing?

"Hey, Hilde."

The girl twisted her hands together nervously in an attempt to pluck up enough courage for her next words. "...Can I sit down?"

Duo glanced down at the empty space next to him before glancing back up at the girl standing in front of him. "Sure, whatever."

Hilde winced and nodded before sitting down. Silence resumed as the poor girl tried to regain her courage. For some reason, there was something about Duo that just racked her nerves. Some hidden charm that disarmed all of her highly built walls and sent them crumbling faster than she could ever hope to rebuild them. And even though she knew that he was taken, even though she had already felt his rejection, she couldn't help but fall for that charm.

"Duo," she finally said quietly staring down at her knees, forcing Duo to lean closer in order to hear her properly. "I wanted to tell you that... I didn't tell anybody about you being gay." Her gaze remained focused on the hem of her pants. "And I'm sorry that I couldn't keep it a secret for you."

"I'm not gay."

"Huh?"

"Mrow?"

Duo smiled at that and stood up with a little jump. "I'm _bi_sexual." Trowa's claws weren't enough to keep his feline self from falling and he tumbled gracelessly to the roof top at Duo's proud statement. The small cat looked up at his long haired friend with a low hiss of anger.

"Oops." Duo said sheepishly, bending down and taking a firm hold around Trowa's waist. Cat in hand, the long haired teen turned towards the still seated girl. "I know you didn't say anything, Hilde." He threw a blinding smile towards her and received a rather weak grin in return.

"Shall I walk the lady back to class?"

"Duo... we have the same second period."

"Is that a 'no'?"

"And... are cats actually _allowed_ on school campus?"

"Eto..."

"Mrow?"

Trowa wiggled slightly and freed himself from Duo's grip. Landing on the roof with more grace than he had previously, he slowly made his way back to his own second period, leaving Duo and Hilde's odd conversation behind him.

"He's fine," The unibanged changeling reported to Quatre upon returning to the band room in his human form. The blond beamed at him in thanks.

And finally, unfortunately, Trowa had to sit down and endure the waving and screeching voice of Catherine.

===

"Father, I'm worried about Duo."

Sister Helen walked into the church office and sat down in one of the seats usually reserved for potential parents. Sitting across from her, Father Maxwell set down the papers he had been reading over and removed his reading glasses in order to properly focus on the nun in front of him. Seeing her worried expression, he sighed and lifted one hand to rub his temple.

"He's been so quiet lately! And distant, even to Angel. I'm sure that he's hiding something big from me, and I'm scared that he's doing something wrong. Even the children have realized that something is off about him and they've-"

Father Maxwell held up one hand, stopping the flow of words spilling from the nun's mouth. "Firstly," he said with a definitely parental gleam in his eyes. "I'm sure that Duo has done nothing wrong. He promised to us a long time ago to stay out of that kind of trouble."

Sister Helen looked down, immediately ashamed that she had thought the long haired orphan would do anything of the sort.

"Sister," Father Maxwell said, his eyes gentling. "I know that it's hard and that Duo has been with us for a long time, but he will come to us if he needs our help. There is nothing we can do to force him to tell us his problems."

There was a pause while Sister Helen wished desperately for the power to be able to turn back time to when Duo was still a small child. He was growing up too fast for his own good and it was scaring her.

"There's something else," Father Maxwell said, perching his glasses back on his nose and picking up the papers he had been reading before the nun had entered the room.

Sister Helen blinked, instantly recognizing the papers. "That's Duo's information," she said, standing up and moving so that she could look at the papers better. "Why do you have that out?"

"That's just the thing," the elderly priest said, rustling the papers irritably. "A man came to me a few days after the Open House; he asked if there were any teens here. He said that he his most beloved grandchild had just died of cancer and he was looking to see if there were any teens here that he could look after. I don't think he wanted to adopt anybody, but be more of a "friendly guardian". So, I told him about Duo and he got very excited..."

"Father, you're making _no_ sense."

Father Maxwell sighed. "I'm know that I shouldn't be acting like this - I'm just a temporary guardian for these kids, but I can't help but think that having a man like that in their lives wouldn't been a good thing. He seemed... odd. Or insincere. And I can't keep him away from Duo, or any of the kids, but Duo's been acting so strange lately..."

"You think that he's already been talking to him?" Sister Helen asked.

Father Maxwell sighed; his posture slumping back into something that would undoubtedly hurt his back later on. He just didn't know anymore. He had never had a kid in the orphanage as long as Duo had been with them. He had never had a kid likely to turn eighteen... all of them had been given homes before the age of ten. But Duo - didn't seem to want a home. He wanted to stay in the orphanage. Despite the teasing he must have endured through school, despite all of the kids around him who complained about having parents who cared too much. He didn't know how to help Duo anymore. And as for the problem with the old man, Dr. G Gersbad, he thought the name to be, he couldn't do anything to stop the man from talking to Duo.

He could only hope that nothing negative came from the outcome.

===

Heero arrived last in field one for lunch that day, throwing a rather jealous looking glare towards Trowa as he sat down next to Duo. Trowa smirked at him, knowing the exact reason that his friend was looking at him like that. Heero scowled, his blue eyes smoldering, and placed a rather possessive arm around Duo's shoulders.

Trowa continued smirking.

Heero continued glaring.

Quatre and Wufei failed in holding back their laughter.

Duo just sighed.

"I see _you_ heard about second period," Duo muttered, eyeing the arm wrapped around his shoulders.

Heero sent another dirty look towards Trowa.

"Gods! It's not like we _did_ anything!" Duo continued, ignoring the electricity crackling between his two friends. "Catherine already has her claws embedded in Trowa's flesh, remember?"

Trowa shuddered; Heero smirked and finally removed his arm from Duo's shoulders. "Hn."

The "tension" evaporated and the five began eating their lunches in relative silence. Until, of course, Quatre began begging for food.

"On no you don't!" Duo said, smacking the blond's hands away from his lunch. "If you're so hungry, you need to start bringing more food for yourself. Wufei almost collapsed yesterday because you stole his lunch again!" Violet orbs darted quickly to check over his friend's health before continuing. "He's finally started teleporting more and he needs all the energy he can get! _DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE WAITED FOR THIS TO HAPPEN?!"_

That last part had Quatre staring at his Chinese friend with a look akin to guilt, while said friend hid his face with his hand in an attempt to pretend that Duo hadn't just screamed that last part out loud. It was true that Wufei didn't teleport all that often, and hadn't ever since he first discovered that he could. At first he had claimed that it was too hard, then it was too tiring, and the boy finally decided that he just didn't like it all that much. Duo had protested to that, saying that Wufei had been born with it, so it was a part of him. Duo had also claimed that one couldn't hate such a large part of themselves - but Wufei had stayed firm in his decision. The fact that the oriental boy was finally embracing the fact that – hey – being able to teleport is actually kind of cool, was heaven to Duo - who loved to teleport as well.

"I'll start bringing three lunches then!" Quatre decided after getting over his slightly guilt trip at causing Wufei problems with his gift. "Two for me and an extra for Wufei."

The other four blinked, not comprehending the blond's logic. But they knew better then to question him, so they left Quatre to feel as though he were doing yet another wonderful thing in order to help others. And Wufei's face slowly broke into an amazed yet satisfactory smirk.

"Because we're now talking about random subjects..." Trowa said, breaking the silence. "Who's up for a camping trip? Or, a sort of camping trip. My uncle said that we could borrow his lake cabin this weekend."

The was a brief pause.

_"YATTA!"_ Duo screamed, jumping up and thrusting one fist into the air.

And that alone seemed to decide for all of them, because the rest of the lunch period was spent planning out their weekend trip to the lake.

**AN** _Please review. I'll attempt to update faster. (But I don't promise anything.)_


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